Thank you both for your advice @Nicole A. and @Edward B.-  I spoke to them in person earlier this month before having to file their eviction, but since then they have become unresponsive.

Asset protection is key concept that I picked up from Rich Dad Poor Dad book "Unfair Advantage" by Rober Kiyosaki, and my limited understanding tells me that I should have an LLC to protect my personal assets from the property, that is a cool $800/ year here in California.

@Edward B. is correct, as long as you are in the military you can leave it where it is at. 

Now I understand the concept of buying high selling low!

So the concept is live in it temporarily, then move out at first chance once I can get that unit fixed up and rented too.

@Edward B. , how about a $50k loan then use cash and give up some equity to another partner? 

You could obviously use the HELOC, or borrow the down from your 401k, you could save cash for a down payment and get standalone financing for the new buy, or any number of things.There's plenty of SFR near you that would cost less then 165k, and I'd be tempted to use just as much equity as I needed to put a down on the first one and get it rolling before repeating the process.I wondered if you'd ever heard of the Infinite Banking Concept?

It’s a pretty basic concept. 

@Edward Seid.

I live in the UK, and I've been looking for properties here as well as on Prince Edward Island (PEI - where my family is from).